E-Commerce Startups Are Back From the Dead

Online shopping has returned to pandemic highs—partly driven by a new generation of young brands that hope not to repeat their predecessors’ mistakes.

Lately, venture capitalist Ben Lerer has found himself experiencing a bit of déjà vu: Once again, there’s a whole nest of thriving e-commerce startups worth his attention.

When I reached him a couple weeks ago, his firm, Lerer Hippeau, was just putting money into two of them: Elm Biosciences, a new skin care startup, and Stiller’s Soda, a healthy beverage brand from actor Ben Stiller. Lerer was displaying none of the gloominess that has recently seemed like an endemic condition among investors and founders interested in e-commerce.

“You can build really great and actually quite valuable businesses,” said Lerer, considering the rejuvenated industry as a whole. “You just have to do it differently.”